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So I FINALLY made it to Belize to see the Mayan ruins. (And many other things that were totally unBELIZEable!) One of the most interesting things? A discussion with one of our shuttle drivers about how he could no longer tell time by the sun. !!! He said that now, what used to be 12:30 pm according to the sun, was now actually 1:30 pm.

This remark reminded me of the earthquake in Japan in 2011 that changed the axis of the Earth, along with an earthquake in Chile in 2010, and one in Sumatra in 2004.

Could this be the ‘real reason’ why the Mayan calendar ended around 2012? Did they foresee that there would be a new way we’d have to calculate time as the Earth shifted in space?

The thought of that totally blows me away, but I could believe that they had advanced knowledge about the workings of our universe. FASCINATING!

Divine Force, Primal Force: to You I Bow. Rising Up, Divine Mother: to You I Bow.

Where to begin with this one? I guess I will start by saying that I — as many of us have — had the blessed honor of welcoming in the embodiment of the Divine and seeing its exit from this plane on more than one occasion. Is there any honor greater than these, to see a soul birth into Being or to see a soul birth into Spirit?

I was quite young and naive when my own daughter was born. But I remember how special the moment was when she took in her first breath and how quiet she became merely by being held by the person that gave her Life. My eyes still tear up at the thought of it. It was truly love at first sight. And I am continually amazed at the unconditional love I feel for my daughter to this day.

After that, there were many years that were touched by death, but I chose to avoid the finality of it. Illnesses, addiction, and old age took my friends, family, and lovers, but I chose to keep my distance from such a dark and dire subject.Continue reading On Witnessing Birth and Death

I feel like I’ve been studying people and the world around me for a very long time. This tendency helped keep me safe while I was growing up in an incredibly volatile home environment and it made me a more perceptive artist as I tuned into all of the details around me (sometimes to an overwhelming degree, as most empaths can attest). I’ve also witnessed how we can create our own mental states of stress or how we can choose to induce a sense of well being. It’s all pretty fascinating.

So in my ongoing quest to ‘figure things out’, I recently started volunteering at a local hospice. My decision to volunteer was sparked, in part, by how important hospice was when my own grandmother was dying from cancer and another part was based on my own near-death experience.

This is the second article in the series, “The 12 Healing Tools“. These articles outline the things that I have found most useful in my journey to overcome childhood trauma and abuse, drug addiction, and debilitating depression.

By the mid-90s my drug days were coming to an end. I couldn’t handle the lifestyle. I was tired of chasing the white dragon every day. Tired of seeing my friends die. Tired of feeling like a total waste and hating myself for it. Just TIRED. Life was truly unmanageable as every waking hour was consumed by this substance. I wanted to finally be free from heroin and try to act and feel “normal”, though that was part of the reason why I started to use drugs in the first place – I always felt (and was told) I was ‘different’ and didn’t understand why.

Anyway… after several failed attempts at detox centers and 30-day rehabs, I was somehow admitted to Colonial House for a 90-day inpatient program.

I write these words because I am 100% sure there are many more out there who have felt this way and/or are feeling this way right now. I want you to know that you are not alone. And there is a reason for everything that is happening in your life. Have faith, stay strong, keep seeking, and amazing things can happen.

As far back as I can remember, I felt like ‘reality’ wasn’t quite the way it seemed. And I especially knew that things were NOT the way those ‘grown ups’ in charge of me were telling me they were. It always felt like I was missing an important piece of the puzzle, like everybody was holding out on a key piece of information and I didn’t know why.

I remember things that my family tells me I shouldn’t remember – I was too young to remember they say. I feel like I came into life with a lot of memories. Memories that most of us want to forget when we embody, that blissful state of amnesia we choose to operate from most of our lives. But some of us ask to remember, NEED to remember – so we can do the work we came here to do. I am one of Those.

Things have been at a virtual stand still since I moved back to Pennsylvania in December. I taught two free yoga classes over the last seven months which is a [painful] first. I’ve been teaching yoga consistently since I graduated from the Sivananda TTC in 2010. I MISS IT!!!!!

So, as usual, when I don’t know what else to do, I volunteer! I find that helping others (karma yoga) is incredibly rewarding on so many levels. I am grateful that I got accepted to work at the Sat Nam Festival and am looking forward to serving on the registration team. Also be sure to check out all of the great campaigns funded by the Sat Nam Foundation. Good stuff!

On this day when many have given their actual lives to fulfill their karmic destinies [read about Arjuna’s dharma as a warrior in the Bhagavad Gita], I decided I should start blogging about the things that have helped me overcome (or at least manage) some of the cards I’ve been dealt in this lifetime — as part of my service to humanity. Perhaps this small step will push me into writing that book so many astrologers and psychics have told me I’m destined to write! Lol

I will outline the ways that have helped me here and go into each of them in more detail in the following weeks. I will list them in the order in which they appeared in my life:

We are all sent here to EXPERIENCE, to make the Divine Consciousness more whole and complete. We can help to answer the questions: What does it mean to be human? What are these emotions? What does this version of consciousness feel like? What is Love and can it really conquer all?

As humans, we forget The Experience, the Divine Play. We get wrapped up in it. We identify with our role and forget that we are all merely actors, cells in the right hand of God.

How do we get back to our Essence?

Forget attachment to the results of ANYTHING. Let go of the EGO. Simply play your part as one piece of the greater whole. Experience and savor every moment, every emotion, every thought, every THING — “good” or “bad”. Want money? OK. Go for it, but don’t make it your sole purpose. Want a family? Experience the joy of that sacred community but don’t let it own you. In all things material, work for the greater good and keep in mind that moderation is the key. And if the mind experiences suffering, then attachment and ego are involved. So check yo’self before you wreck yo’self.

In December 2014, I made my way across the country to start a new life ‘somewhere’ in New Mexico. All I knew was that I needed a place to heal, to rest, and rejuvenate. I had basically burned myself out giving too much: to my relationship, to my family, and to the yoga studio I was running from home. I was disillusioned by the yoga “scene”, by my yoga lineage, and I didn’t even want to think about teaching or doing any kind of healing work again any time soon. So when I found a place out in the middle of nowhere with a meditation cave on the property, I knew I was home. Nature always gave me comfort as far back as I could remember, so I knew being surrounded by Her would play a key part in this healing process. And I would have the time and space for my meditation practice, and to reflect, journal, and make art again.

“The grief you cry out from draws you toward union. Your pure sadness that wants help is the secret cup. Listen to the moan of a dog for its master. That whining is the connection. There are love-dogs no one knows the names of. Give your life to be one of them.” — Rumi

As a Reiki practitioner, I’ve often felt the connection between the heart chakra and the 2nd chakra, located near the sex organs. If anything, it made my “work” easier: most people I came across had unresolved issues stuck in their emotional centers at the heart and in the pelvis, so all I had to do was focus on treating these areas and that helped release a lot of “stuff” for my clients. It made sense to me. Relationships are difficult and many things go unprocessed and that energy gets stuffed into these emotional centers.

Today, however, I was presented with a heart – mind connection. Trying to live life through the logic of the mind (as a psychologist) led to very real difficulties with the heart, so much so that reparative heart surgery was required for this person.

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Creative Yoga @ GarthFebruary 22, 2018 at 6:00 pm – 7:00 pmGarth Gallery, 22 S 2nd St, Columbia, PA 17512, USACome out and experience a creative blend of Hatha, Vinyasa, Kundalini and Partner yoga. We will mix together strengthening and balancing poses, gentle inversions, back bends, forward bends, and twists while learning how to use the breath. Perfect for all levels of students since modifications will be given as needed to tailor the practice to…